DEAD SEA, Israel (BP) -- The Dead Sea has been receding for decades, with some experts predicting its total demise by 2050. But a $1.5 billion plan to resurrect the biblically prominent sea is nearing fruition, NBC News reported Nov. 29.

Meetings are expected within weeks to finalize the plan considered for two decades, NBC reported, to build a desalination facility in Jordan to essentially remove salty brine from the Red Sea and pump it into the Dead Sea. The desalinated water remaining from the Red Sea would be suitable for drinking, meeting water demands amid rainfall that continues to decrease.

Jim Sibley, a Baptist who teaches at the Israel College of the Bible, told Baptist Press today (Nov. 30) the conditions causing the Dead Sea to recede an estimated three-to-five feet a year are more complex than widely reported. Read More

ISRAEL (BP) -- They're only 7 millimeters wide, but these coins appear to be a big find.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project recently discovered five rare coins dating from the 4th century B.C. This doubles the number unearthed so far and provides some of the earliest evidence of Jewish coin minting in Israel.

According to The Times of Israel, the coins come from around the period of time described in Ezra and Nehemiah. Read More

JERUSALEM (BP) -- As the United States opened a controversial embassy in Jerusalem, many Southern Baptists lauded the occasion and celebrated the modern state of Israel's 70th anniversary.

Meanwhile, more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 1,200 wounded by the Israeli military as they protested the Trump administration's decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The protestors also objected to what they view as Israel's violation of their human rights. Jamal Bishara, an Arab Israeli Southern Baptist, urged American evangelicals to take a stronger stand for the freedom and humanitarian aid of Palestinians in Israel. Read More

UNITED NATIONS (BP) -- In a move characterized by media outlets as a denunciation of the Trump administration, the United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday (Dec. 21) to ask nations not to establish diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.

By a 128-9 vote with 35 abstentions and 21 U.N. member nations absent, the General Assembly's resolution "Status of Jerusalem" expressed "deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem" -- an apparent reference to President Trump's Dec. 6 announcement the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move its embassy there. Read More

NAZARETH, Israel (BP) -- Israeli Arab officials in Nazareth, Jesus' hometown where an angel announced His incarnation to the virgin Mary, have walked back statements that Christmas celebrations there would be canceled to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Meanwhile, when the Palestinian town of Bethlehem, Jesus' birthplace, learned of Trump's Dec. 6 announcement regarding Jerusalem, it briefly switched off the area's Christmas lights in protest, Reuters reported, as did Ramallah in the West Bank. Read More

JERUSALEM (BP) -- As violence continued in the Middle East after President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Southern Baptists expressed a range of views on the topic.

Former Southern Baptist Convention Presidents Ronnie Floyd and Jack Graham were among those to celebrate Trump's Dec. 6 proclamation on Jerusalem, which included a promise to move the U.S. embassy there. Jamal Bishara, an Arab Israeli who served on the Multiethnic Advisory Council appointed in 2014 by SBC Executive Committee President Frank S. Page, called the Trump administration's move "another slap in the face to Palestinians." Read More

TEL GEZER, Israel (BP) -- A discovery of ancient human remains by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary archaeologists has helped confirm Scripture's portrayal of the city of Gezer in southern Israel.

The discovery, unearthed this summer by Southwestern's Tandy Institute of Archaeology, included remains of two adults and a child inside a building that appeared to have been violently destroyed by Egyptians in the 13th century B.C., according to media reports. Because the Egyptians in that period preferred to keep vanquished foes alive, "the heavy destruction suggests the Egyptian pharaoh ... Read More

Formed in 1946 by the Southern Baptist Convention, and supported with Cooperative Program funds, Baptist Press (BP) is a daily (M-F) international news wire service. Operating from a central bureau in Nashville, Tenn., BP works with four partnering bureaus (Richmond, Va.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Washington, D.C.), as well as with a large network of contributing writers, photographers and editorial providers, to produce BP News.